The flawed update from CrowdStrike Holdings Inc (CRWD) that caused a global IT outage has drawn criticism from leading US cybersecurity figures.
What happened: In a LinkedIn post on Saturday, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly called the flawed software update a “serious mistake.”
The incident was “a major incident that has had serious implications for the operation of critical infrastructure around the world,” she said, adding that “while there was no malicious intent, it was a significant mistake and CEO George Kurtz has taken full responsibility, apologized, and committed to working together to resolve it.”
Also read: Windows PCs crash worldwide, users experience blue screen issues, CrowdStrike acknowledges flaw: “Fix has been deployed”
She added that disruptions from technology outages and cyberattacks, including those perpetrated by the Chinese, are inevitable and organizations need to anticipate and plan for them, design resilient systems and train their people to deal with them.
Additionally, governments and critical infrastructure organisations will need to strengthen their resilience to ensure rapid response and recovery, and minimise disruptions to essential services, Easterly said.
The LinkedIn post was first spotted by Bloomberg.
Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech trends delivered to your email.
Importance: The flawed update affected approximately 8.5 million devices worldwide that run on Microsoft Corporation’s MSFT Windows systems.
The update had a significant impact on businesses and governments around the world, disrupting the operation of critical infrastructure.
CrowdStrike’s stock price has fallen significantly in the wake of this incident, and the company is currently assisting customers affected by the flaws discovered in certain content updates for Windows hosts.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
Follow this link to see more Consumer Tech coverage from Benzinga.
Read next:
Disclaimer: This content was created in part with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
